Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race - Hans Himmelman to compete

Though crews that can number in the teens staff many entries in this year's Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, the 51-foot sloop out of Halifax is one of six double-handed entries in this year’s international racing class.

'I enjoy the challenge,' skipper Hans Himmelman says of the task that awaits him and crewman David Fraizer as they prepare to navigate the 360-nautical-mile (670-kilometre) route from Marblehead near Boston to the mouth of Halifax Harbour.

Seventy-five entries — 17 of them from Nova Scotia — will set sail early Sunday afternoon in the 35th Marblehead race, organized every two years by the Boston Yacht Club and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

Himmelman, a stockbroker from Head of St. Margarets Bay, has lost track of the crossings he’s made from Marblehead. He figures the number is around 15, including at least a half-dozen times as part of the double-handed class.